Rip Gets a Friend
by marie.ebersole
Summary: A new arrival at the jail, ends Jack and Rip's bachelor days.


Rip Gets A Friend

Jack was engrossed in paperwork at his desk in the jail. The room was quiet save for the sound of Rip snoring in his favorite place in front of the wood stove. It was a bright fall afternoon with just a hint of cool crispness in the air. Jack was so engrossed in his reports that he did not see Rip bolt to the door. Suddenly, the silence was cut by Rip's loud, urgent barking. He kept looking from the door to Jack and back.

Jack sighed, "Rip, old boy, what's the matter? Somebody out there?" Rip let out a bark and looked again from Jack to the door.

"Okay, Okay, I am coming." Jack walked over to the door where Rip was anxiously waiting, pacing, his tail wagging. He let out a bark of annoyance, as if to say to Jack "what took you so long?"

Jack opened the door, there was no one there. He looked up and down the street, he did not see anyone walking away. The road was clear, he observed Florence Blakely and Rosemary going into Abigail's Café.  
Jack started to step back inside when he felt something brush against his legs. He looked down just in time to see a small cat brush by him and saunter into the jail. The cat was small, patches of brown and orange stripes blended across its back, white socks what looked like white hip waders colored the legs. As the small cat sauntered in, its tail curling like a question mark with a red tip. The little cat walked right past Rip, unconcerned and went straight for his food dish. Jack watched Rip, not sure how the dog would react. Rip appeared shocked. He just sat there watching as the cat began eating.

Jack spoke the furry intruder. "So what do you think you are doing?" The cat turned its head, more stripes, a white one that went down to a pink nose. Bright green eyes looked at him as if to say . " What do you think I am doing? Eating you nitwit." Lynx tipped ears turned to finish the meal. After finishing the food the cat sauntered into the jail cell, walking between the bars, with a quiet leap, it landed on the cot, sat and promptly began to groom. Jack walked over to the petite cat, " Look here, who said you could stay?" Bright green eyes looked knowingly at him as if to say, "I am here to stay."

Jack gave a chuckle, and looked at Rip. Rip sat there still stunned at what had just taken place. "Well Rip, it looks like we have a new roommate. At least for tonight." Rip let out a resigned sigh, went over to finish the little bit of food left in his dish. After eating, he settled back down in the front of the stove and soon was snoring away.

Jack returned to his desk, soon the jail was filled with a symphony of sounds, Rip's snoring echoed by the soft purring snore of the cat on the cot. Jack smiled, amused at the turn of events. It was going to be interesting having Rip and now a cat. He wondered how Elizabeth would react. Jack looked at the clock on the wall. He would soon find out, Elizabeth was due any time, she was bringing him dinner at the jail. Jack was supposed to meet her at Abigail's but he had to cancel their date due to a backlog of reports. Elizabeth had been disappointed but understanding. She has offered instead to bring him dinner at the jail. Smiling at the thought of her reaction, he went back to his paperwork.

Soon a knock at the door, and before he could get up to answer, Elizabeth came breezing in, basket in hand, odors coming from it making his mouth water. It smelled like Abigail's beef stew, his favorite. Elizabeth sat the basket down on the table he had in the jail. As she came over to greet him at his desk, she stopped short, spotting the furry intruder, now sleeping soundly on the cot in the jail cell.

"Jack, I didn't know you were getting a cat?" Jack smiled at her, giving her a quick kiss before answering her. " I didn't either." " What do mean you didn't know either?" Blue eyes looked at him quizzically. Jack just grinned at her, " Rip must have heard it on the porch. He started barking at the door, when I went to open the door to check, the cat sauntered in and made itself at home."

Elizabeth chuckled at him, "It?" "Don't you know if it is a boy or girl?" "Umm, I didn't think to check, and I wasn't sure what to look for." Jack answered starting to turn red with embarrassment.

Elizabeth laughed at his obvious discomfort. "YOU mean all those years on the ranch with your uncle and you never learned how to tell a boy cat from a girl cat?"

"We never had to check our barn cats, we just knew they were female when they had their first litter of kittens."

"Come on, let's find out, the poor thing needs a name. You just can't call it, it."

Jack looked at her, a bit surprised. Their roles reversed this time. Usually he was the one doing the teaching on this kind of thing and Elizabeth was the student. Now he found himself being on the learning end of things. Elizabeth flashed him one of those smiles that meant she was about to give him a bit of that sass she was so good at. Elizabeth looked at him and sassily replied, 'Yes I know the difference between a boy cat and a girl cat. We had a mother cat give birth to a litter of kittens once. My governess showed me how to tell the difference between the two. There were three kittens in the litter, each one of us got to pick out one. I had a sweet little brown and orange tabby girl, much like your visitor here. I named her Daphne."

Elizabeth sat down on the cot next to the sleeping cat. The cat woke, yawned and stretched, rolling on its back, flashing a white belly and chest. The cat seemed to say, please rub my belly. Elizabeth obliged and was rewarded with a lift of the tail revealing that Jack's guest was a girl. "Well it looks like you have a girl here." "So what are you going to name her? You can't keep just calling her it."  
Jack smiled at the sight of Elizabeth and the little cat enjoying each other's company.

Since she reminds you of your cat that you had, let's call her Daphne. I think it fits."

Elizabeth chuckled and kept rubbing the white belly. She was rewarded with a silly look and a loud purring. "Daphne, how do you like your new name?" Daphne butted her head against Elizabeth's hand and continued to purr.

Finally getting the naming out of the way, Jack and Elizabeth settled down for their supper.

Later that night, Jack was rousted out of a sound sleep by a loud yowling noise. He jumped out of bed and grabbed the flash light he kept on the bedside stand. He turned it on, shining it at the floor next to his bed, where the noise had some from. He was met with bright green eyes, looking proudly at him. In her mouth, Daphne carried a mouse that obviously had been dispatched. Daphne gave another meowr and dropped the mouse at his feet as if to say, "Thank You." Her tail was up in a question mark. She looked rather proud of herself.

"Well Daphne, it looks like you have earned your place with us." Daphne calmly looked at him, and jumped on the bed, making herself comfortable on Jack's pillow.

Jack sighed and went back to bed. The soft sounds of purring lulling him to sleep.

The End for Now…


End file.
